Members of the jury

Ahmed Ashour

Ahmed Ashour (born in Jordan 1981) holds a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts with a major in graphic design from the University in Amman, Jordan. Ashour came to Al Jazeera Media Company in February 2004, and worked as a graphic designer for four years. Currently (2010), he is a "New Media" journalist at Al Jazeera Network, and as a New Media Coordinator at the Al Jazeera Channel. He is also the producer of a weekly television programme called “Minbar Al Jazeera” (An al Jazeera Forum open for everybody to voice their opinion).Ahmed Ashour is the manager and one of the founders of Al Jazeera Talk (launched 2006), a news site using exclusively citizen generated news. Ashour lives in Qatar.

Dr. Khaled Hroub

Khaled Hroub (born 1965 near Bethlehem) is the Director of Cambridge Arab Media Project (CAMP) at the University of Cambridge, where he also teaches contemporary Middle East politics and history. He is the author of several books on political Islam that appeared in different languages. In Arabic he published a poetry volume (Cairo, 2009), a literary collection (Beirut, 2009), and recently a current affairs account (Fragility of Ideology and the Might of Politics, Beirut, 2010). He hosted a weekly book review show (Al- Kitab khayru jalees – A book is your best company) on Al-Jazeera Channel from 2000 to 2006. Hroub lives in Cambridge, UK.

Eman Al Nafjan

Eman Al Nafjan (born 1978) holds a BA in English and worked as a school teacher before moving on to becoming a university teaching assistant. She was granted a scholarship for an MA in Teaching English as a Foreign Language from Birmingham University, UK. After completing the MA, she taught Pre-med English at a university in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Currently she is working towards a PhD candidacy in Linguistics. Since February 2008, she has been writing the 'Saudiwoman's Weblog' (saudiwoman.wordpress.com), a blog on Saudi issues regarding human rights with a focus on women. She also comments on social and cultural issues of her country. Al Nafjan lives in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.

Naziha Rjiba (Om Zied)

Naziha Rjiba, (also known under her pen name 'Om Zied', born 1945), holds a BA in Liberal Arts with a major on literature from the University of Tunis, Tunesia. She taught Arabic Literature and Translation in various high schools and at the University of Tunisia before she decided to fully dedicate her time to journalism. Since the early 80s she has written articles for many newspapers in Tunisia, Egypt and France. One of the newspapers she wrote for, 'Al Ra’i', was closed down in 1988 because of an article she had written for it. She was the editor in chief of the internet-magazine 'Kalima' [Word] from 2001 to 2009 . Rjiba participated in founding the 'Observatory for Freedom of Press, Publishing and Creation' (http://www.olpec-marsed.org/fr/home.html?newlang=english), and is on the advisory board of ANHRI, Arabic Network for Human Rights information. She is also the Head of PEN Tunisia and an honorary member of PEN France, UK and Belgium. In 2009, she received the NOVIB/PEN Free Expression Award and awards from WAN-IFRA - World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers and the Committee to Protect Journalist. Rjiba lives in Tunis, Tunisia.